(WASHINGTON, D.C.,
10/15/2012) – A coalition of
pro-freedom groups is responding to an advertising campaign in the D.C. mass
transit system that seeks to quash the freedom of speech.

The coalition, which includes representatives from Christian,
Jewish, and secular human rights groups, is calling on Metro to donate proceeds
from the deceptive Islamic supremacist ad campaign to a charity that supports
human beings fleeing jihad and the sharia. The Islamic supremacist ads that are
being placed by the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
mislead about the nature and root cause of jihad terror, and demonize those
trying to resist jihad and Islamic supremacism.

“Hate speech
must be challenged wherever it appears, not with censorship but with more civil
speech promoting mutual understanding,” said AFDI National Executive Director Pamela Geller. “Left
unchallenged, hate of any kind harms our nation and can lead to bias crimes. We
hope to expand this anti-hate campaign in the nation’s capital and throughout
the nation. We need the community’s help to challenge the growing propaganda
campaign of deceptive Islamic supremacists in our society with positive
messages of why we must defend freedom against jihad and Sharia.”

This coalition
is preparing a letter to the Washington Area Metro Transit Authority (WMATA)
expressing concern over advertisements now on display in DC-area metro stations
sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a designated unindicted
co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case.

NOTE: The coalition is urging people of conscience to
contact Washington, D.C., transit officials to ask
that they help mitigate the negative impact of anti-free speech advertisements.

The Hamas-linked
CAIR ads severely mislead Americans about the nature of the jihad against free
nations by quoting a peaceful passage of the Qur’an that many Islamic scholars
believe has been abrogated by passages enjoining violence and hate. This masks
the organization’s true intentions and leads to complacency, when in reality CAIR
operatives have repeatedly refusedtodenounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist
groups. Several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes
related to jihad terror. CAIR’s cofounder and longtime Board
chairman (Omar Ahmad), as well as its chief spokesman (Ibrahim Hooper), have
made Islamic supremacist statements. Its California chapter distributed posters
telling Muslims not to talk to the FBI.

Hamas-linked
CAIR’s attempt to defame AFDI is consistent with its long record of pro-jihad
duplicity, deception and thuggery. One member of this unsavory gang has even previously called for these ads to be defaced.
Although it has received millions of dollars in donations from foreign Islamic
entities, it has not registered as a foreign agent as required by the Foreign
Agents Registration Act (FARA), despite spreading Islamic supremacist
propaganda within the United States.

Although
it presents itself as a civil rights group, CAIR actually has numerous links to
hateful and violent Islamic supremacist and jihad groups.

CAIR
founders Omar Ahmad and Niwad Awad (who still serves as CAIR’s executive
director) were present at a Hamas planning meeting in Philadelphia in 1993
where they and other Hamas operatives conspired to raise funds for Hamas and to
promote jihad in the Middle East. CAIR has steadfastly refused to denounce
Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups.

Several
former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad
terror:

--
Ghassan Elashi, founder of CAIR’s Texas chapter, in 2009 received a 65-year
prison sentence for funneling over $12 million from the Islamic charity known
as the Holy Land Foundation to the jihad terrorist group Hamas, which is
responsible for murdering hundreds of Israeli civilians

--
Mousa Abu Marzook, a former CAIR official, was in 1995 designated by the U.S.
government in 1995 as a “terrorist and Hamas leader.” He now is a Hamas leader
in Syria.

--
Randall Royer, CAIR’s former civil rights coordinator, in 2004 began serving a
20-year prison sentence for aiding al-Qaida and the Taliban against American
troops in Afghanistan and recruiting for Lashkar e-Taiba, the jihadist group
responsible for the 2008 Mumbai jihad massacres.

--
Bassem Khafagi, CAIR’s former community relations director, was arrested for
involvement with the Islamic Assembly of North America, which was linked to
al-Qaida. After pleading guilty to visa and bank fraud charges, Khafagi was
deported.

--
Rabih Haddad, a former CAIR fundraiser, was deported for his work with the
Global Relief Foundation (which he co-founded), a terror-financing
organization.

In
1998 Omar Ahmad, CAIR’s co-founder and longtime Board Chairman, said: “Islam
isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The
Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted
religion on Earth.”

After
he received unwelcome publicity as a result of this statement, Ahmad denied
saying it, several years after the fact. However, the original reporter, Lisa
Gardiner of the Fremont Argus, stands by her story.

CAIR’s
spokesman Ibrahim Hooper once said: “I wouldn’t want to create the impression
that I wouldn’t like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime
in the future.”

The
coalition requests that:

* WMATA work
closely with organizations representing people who have been victimized by
jihad and Sharia during all phases of the response and follow up to the CAIR ads.

* WMATA take a
similar approach to that of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
(SFMTA) in response to the CAIR ads by placing disclaimers that show that the deceptive
speech promulgated by such ads is not representative of the view of WMATA.

* WMATA provide
free space for counter ads, focused on promoting understanding of the nature
and magnitude of the jihad threat to the Greater Washington DC Metropolitan
area, and awareness of the harm caused by deceptive Islamic supremacist
campaigns to demonize those fighting for human rights against jihad and Sharia.

The coalition
also states:

"With
respect to WMATA’s response in this matter, it is not our desire that WMATA
disallow advertisements that contain any political speech, as this would
curtail the use of an important forum where ideas are frequently exchanged. We
respect the protections afforded to political speech, and do not wish that our
position be misinterpreted as advocating for the curtailment of such speech.
This being said, we do believe there are measures WMATA can take to mitigate
the effect Islamic supremacist deception and hate speech has on the community
and encourage you to take the above listed steps in crafting a principled and
effective response."

(WASHINGTON, D.C.,
10/15/2012) – A coalition of
pro-freedom groups is responding to an advertising campaign in the D.C. mass
transit system that seeks to quash the freedom of speech.

The coalition, which includes representatives from Christian,
Jewish, and secular human rights groups, is calling on Metro to donate proceeds
from the deceptive Islamic supremacist ad campaign to a charity that supports
human beings fleeing jihad and the sharia. The Islamic supremacist ads that are
being placed by the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
mislead about the nature and root cause of jihad terror, and demonize those
trying to resist jihad and Islamic supremacism.

“Hate speech
must be challenged wherever it appears, not with censorship but with more civil
speech promoting mutual understanding,” said AFDI National Executive Director Pamela Geller. “Left
unchallenged, hate of any kind harms our nation and can lead to bias crimes. We
hope to expand this anti-hate campaign in the nation’s capital and throughout
the nation. We need the community’s help to challenge the growing propaganda
campaign of deceptive Islamic supremacists in our society with positive
messages of why we must defend freedom against jihad and Sharia.”

This coalition
is preparing a letter to the Washington Area Metro Transit Authority (WMATA)
expressing concern over advertisements now on display in DC-area metro stations
sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a designated unindicted
co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case.

NOTE: The coalition is urging people of conscience to
contact Washington, D.C., transit officials to ask
that they help mitigate the negative impact of anti-free speech advertisements.

The Hamas-linked
CAIR ads severely mislead Americans about the nature of the jihad against free
nations by quoting a peaceful passage of the Qur’an that many Islamic scholars
believe has been abrogated by passages enjoining violence and hate. This masks
the organization’s true intentions and leads to complacency, when in reality CAIR
operatives have repeatedly refusedtodenounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist
groups. Several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes
related to jihad terror. CAIR’s cofounder and longtime Board
chairman (Omar Ahmad), as well as its chief spokesman (Ibrahim Hooper), have
made Islamic supremacist statements. Its California chapter distributed posters
telling Muslims not to talk to the FBI.

Hamas-linked
CAIR’s attempt to defame AFDI is consistent with its long record of pro-jihad
duplicity, deception and thuggery. One member of this unsavory gang has even previously called for these ads to be defaced.
Although it has received millions of dollars in donations from foreign Islamic
entities, it has not registered as a foreign agent as required by the Foreign
Agents Registration Act (FARA), despite spreading Islamic supremacist
propaganda within the United States.

Although
it presents itself as a civil rights group, CAIR actually has numerous links to
hateful and violent Islamic supremacist and jihad groups.

CAIR
founders Omar Ahmad and Niwad Awad (who still serves as CAIR’s executive
director) were present at a Hamas planning meeting in Philadelphia in 1993
where they and other Hamas operatives conspired to raise funds for Hamas and to
promote jihad in the Middle East. CAIR has steadfastly refused to denounce
Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups.

Several
former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad
terror:

--
Ghassan Elashi, founder of CAIR’s Texas chapter, in 2009 received a 65-year
prison sentence for funneling over $12 million from the Islamic charity known
as the Holy Land Foundation to the jihad terrorist group Hamas, which is
responsible for murdering hundreds of Israeli civilians

--
Mousa Abu Marzook, a former CAIR official, was in 1995 designated by the U.S.
government in 1995 as a “terrorist and Hamas leader.” He now is a Hamas leader
in Syria.

--
Randall Royer, CAIR’s former civil rights coordinator, in 2004 began serving a
20-year prison sentence for aiding al-Qaida and the Taliban against American
troops in Afghanistan and recruiting for Lashkar e-Taiba, the jihadist group
responsible for the 2008 Mumbai jihad massacres.

--
Bassem Khafagi, CAIR’s former community relations director, was arrested for
involvement with the Islamic Assembly of North America, which was linked to
al-Qaida. After pleading guilty to visa and bank fraud charges, Khafagi was
deported.

--
Rabih Haddad, a former CAIR fundraiser, was deported for his work with the
Global Relief Foundation (which he co-founded), a terror-financing
organization.

In
1998 Omar Ahmad, CAIR’s co-founder and longtime Board Chairman, said: “Islam
isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The
Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted
religion on Earth.”

After
he received unwelcome publicity as a result of this statement, Ahmad denied
saying it, several years after the fact. However, the original reporter, Lisa
Gardiner of the Fremont Argus, stands by her story.

CAIR’s
spokesman Ibrahim Hooper once said: “I wouldn’t want to create the impression
that I wouldn’t like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime
in the future.”

The
coalition requests that:

* WMATA work
closely with organizations representing people who have been victimized by
jihad and Sharia during all phases of the response and follow up to the CAIR ads.

* WMATA take a
similar approach to that of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
(SFMTA) in response to the CAIR ads by placing disclaimers that show that the deceptive
speech promulgated by such ads is not representative of the view of WMATA.

* WMATA provide
free space for counter ads, focused on promoting understanding of the nature
and magnitude of the jihad threat to the Greater Washington DC Metropolitan
area, and awareness of the harm caused by deceptive Islamic supremacist
campaigns to demonize those fighting for human rights against jihad and Sharia.

The coalition
also states:

"With
respect to WMATA’s response in this matter, it is not our desire that WMATA
disallow advertisements that contain any political speech, as this would
curtail the use of an important forum where ideas are frequently exchanged. We
respect the protections afforded to political speech, and do not wish that our
position be misinterpreted as advocating for the curtailment of such speech.
This being said, we do believe there are measures WMATA can take to mitigate
the effect Islamic supremacist deception and hate speech has on the community
and encourage you to take the above listed steps in crafting a principled and
effective response."